Back at Mei's house, we're going to prepare our river catch.
回到梅的家里,我们开始处理这些河鲜
A lot of the fish are still alive.
很多鱼还是活着的
Did you see that? Just with one knife cut,
看到没,就一刀
she guts it.
她取出了内脏
And gets rid of the intestines, and the belly,
肠子肚子这些都不要了
in one fell knife swoop, even though the fish is so small.
就一刀,即使这些鱼那么小
She just rips the head off, and the tail off the sort of centipede.
她把那种蜈蚣的头和尾巴都去掉了
'I came to China to expand my knowledge of Chinese cooking.
我来到中国,想加深自己对中国烹饪文化的了解
'Learning how to gut a centipede is certainly doing that.'
比如怎样取蜈蚣内脏这种
She said women know how to cook,
她说女人都会做饭
and also that the men wash the dishes. I understood that bit.
而男人则负责洗盘子,我听懂了那部分
Men don't understand -
男人不懂这些
they only know how to eat.
他们就知道怎么吃
So I've got here the small river fish and local garlic,
我这里有一些小河鱼和傣族本地的大蒜
wild garlic, some ginger,
是野生大蒜,还有一些姜
some small chillies, the local chillies,
小辣椒,也是当地产的辣椒
and then there's the Vietnamese mint,
还有越南薄荷
and then they've got here some coriander as well,
他们还加了一些香菜
and then some spring onion.
然后是葱
'I'm going to make a classic Dai dish of fish cooked in banana leaves.'
我准备用鱼和香蕉叶做一道正宗的傣族菜
Just finely chop it.
要仔细的剁碎
My grandmother would always peel it,
我奶奶通常是剥掉姜皮
and the Chinese believe that when you peel ginger,
中国人都这么认为,把姜剥皮
it becomes more heat-giving property, more Yang. More fiery.
做出来的饭就是偏阳性
If you keep the ginger skin on, then it makes the dish more Yin,
留着皮就是偏阴性
it's more cooling.
是凉性的
'First, I put chopped ginger, garlic and chilli onto a banana leaf,
首先我把剁碎的姜蒜和辣椒涂在香蕉叶上
'closely scrutinized by my sous chef, who is keen to offer tips.'
我的副厨仔细的检查着,并给我提建议
She said, "Chop it, chop all the herbs together
她说 “要剁碎,把所有佐料剁碎掺在一起
"so it's really fine." I would have just thrown it all together,
剁得碎碎的” 换了我就都直接掺一块儿了
but this is the way they're used to doing.
他们也通常这么做
OK, so we put this all on the leaf, like that.
我们把这些都放在香蕉叶上,像这样
'Wrapping the food in a banana leaf
用香蕉叶裹住食物
'seals in moisture and flavour, much like foil or oven-proof paper.'
像烤箱用的箔纸那样锁住水分和香味
And then, you just tie it.
然后扎住
'Being here with Mei and her family takes me back to my childhood
同梅和她家人的相处把我带回了
'under the supervision of two other formidable family cooks -
被两个严厉的家庭大厨监管的童年——
'my grandmother and mother.'
我的奶奶和妈妈
So she's just securing the package within some bamboo?
她用竹子固定住包裹
'I'm planning to steam the fish, but my sous chef has other ideas.'
我打算清蒸,但是我的副厨却有其他建议
Oh, then that's how they would normally cook it!
这就是他们平时的烹饪方式
She said it's tastier like this than steaming it.
她说这样会更好吃
She said, if you steam it, it doesn't taste very good!
她说蒸的不太好吃
'While it cooks for 20 minutes, Mei offers me an appetiser.'
20分钟了,梅给了我一道开胃菜
This is a baby. This is the centipede.
这是小蜈蚣
'The water centipedes she caught at the river have been
她抓的水蜈蚣
'boiled in a spicy broth of chillies, ginger and herbs.'
用辣椒姜和草药等香辛料煮着
She said, "Don't be afraid, just eat it!"
她说,别害怕,尝尝
It's like texture like prawns.
吃起来像对虾
It's like river prawn texture, river shrimp.
像小河虾那样
It's not bad. It's not bad, actually.
实际上并不那么糟糕